18/09/2017
Research suggests that by the end of 2018, there will be up to 3,000 elderly people unable to get beds in Care Homes.
Commissioned by BBC Radio 4 programme 'You and Yours', the results reveal a huge shortfall in the available beds.
What is even more concerning is the fact that due to the increasing demand from an ageing population, we could see that figure grow to a staggering 70,000 unavailable beds in just nine years time.
Even with the extra £2bn from the Department of Health to fund social care, this may not be enough to fill the gap. Over the last three years, one in twenty care homes has closed.
Although – according to research carried out by JLL property consultants – since 2002 there have been on average 7,000 care home beds opened up each year, by 2026 there would be 14,000 people who needed residential care home placements each year.
James Kingdom, the lead researcher said that it was very disturbing to know that we are only building half the number of care homes we need. Because more people are living longer, we know that over the course of the next ten years, there will be 2.5 million more over 65 year old people. There is going to be a huge demand for beds in care homes. To get anywhere near to fixing that, we need to double the rate of availability of beds.
Barchester Health Care – the third largest care provider in the UK – says that they are concerned at the gap in capacity. This means that the most vulnerable people are not getting the care they need. Neither will it be available to them in the future.
Pete Calveley, Chief executive told 'You and Yours' that more cases are being brought to their attention, of highly dependant people left at home. These people should ideally be receiving care in a care home environment. This leaves them socially isolated and they are not taken care of.
The Association of Directors of Adult Services has often said that there is a risk of too many people being placed into residential care. President Glen Garrod said that until we have fully exhausted the options of helping people to stay at home, there is a danger that far too many people turn to care homes. They might have preferred to stay in their own homes.
In the last three years, a staggering 21,500 beds in care homes have been lost. People in the care sector worry that there will be an increased demand for hospital beds instead of care homes, as elderly people are admitted to hospital because they simply cannot manage at home.
The government estimates show that this shortfall in beds has already cost the NHS in England over £900 million a year. Mr Calveley, from Barchester Health Care says that it was an ever growing problem in the health and social care sector, because there simply is not enough capacity in the community to help elderly people as they need to be helped.
Reacting to these statements, the Department of Health said that providing high quality care is not just about beds in care homes. Research has shown that 61% of elderly people 'are cared for in their own homes'. Furthermore, since 2010 there has been an increase in home care agencies of 2,900.
The Department of Health says that they have allocated local authorities in England an additional £2bn over the next three years. This is to ensure that the social care sector is on secure footing for the future, and that our ageing population is well taken care of.
